I have been sitting for several years all over the world and for me, the thing that has made the most significant difference in my experience is when hosts let me use a bicycle. I have been pleasantly surprised by how many hosts allow me to use an old bike after I ask about it. But, no host has ever offered without me inquiring. Often I have paid for new tires or tubes or cleaned up and oiled the chain in exchange for the bike usage. I like to be in small towns, but being able to bike to the store or a restaurant has made a huge difference for me. I realize many people do not like to bike, but it is something to think about when trying to lure outdoorsy, active sitters for your pets.
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I have seen a few listings recently that offer use of a bike(s). I guess these are newer listings or older listings that have updated their list of available amenities.
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@SunshineAndAloha I am so glad that having a bike has made such a big difference to your sitting adventures. Without sitting with a car, I can see why that would really help.
We have had use of bikes twice, both offered as we did not think to ask as we normally travel by car. One was a beautiful rural sit in Yorkshire with a cat, so we used the bikes to explore the village as we were not getting as much exercise as we were not dog walking. It was a lovely way to explore and reminded me of how much I enjoyed bike riding.
The other sit the bikes were super fancy, so we decided to leave them hanging on their hooks to not risk anything happening to them!
As @Twitcher mentioned with the new amenities filter I have seen a few more bikes offered. Make sure you open the amenities list when viewing a listing as you sometimes need to scroll through and look for the âyou can use my bikeâ one.
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I did not realize bikes are now one of the things listed. Thatâs AWESOME!!!
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I LOVE my sunset cycle time and some of my happiest sitting memories are from hosts who offered bicycles, nearly as an aside! For example, just as one owner was getting in her car to leave, she said: âoh, donât know if youâre into it, but thereâs a bicycle in the shed.â And what a cool bicycle it was. I spent many happy kilometers along Dublinâs coastal paths!
Sometimes the bicycles are in good working order, the wheels just need a good pump. But mostly itâs been forgotten and in poor condition. If they have tools I might have a go, otherwise sadly I just donât use it.
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We did a sit in Derbyshire where the hosts kindly offered my sons and I use of their bicycles and even left out cycle helmets for us to use. We had a really enjoyable ride along the nearby canal (possibly the only flat cycle route in the area!)
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Iâm halfway through a two-month sit in San Rafael, Argentina and the owner was kind to let me use her bicycle. The town is a perfect size for biking and has also been good for exercise. It needed some basic maintenance and the owner found a bike repair shop operated out of a nearby home, so I also got to meet some of the neighbors. I hadnât thought about using a bike until it was offered on this sit, but Iâll definitely watch for it in the future.
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What a great post! Thanks I just edited my listing to include the use of our mountain bikes!
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Weâre currently sitting in northern rural Thailand and my UK licence expired just before we arrived so no car or scooter options! (& hubby is Turkish so he hates the other side of the road driving) For the last 3.5 weeks we have been tootling (read sweating 
) around the local villages on two well loved bikes having the most brilliant time. Meeting the locals, stopping at warungs for food, nearly running over snakes (yesterdayâs adventure 
) picking up groceries in our basket,
Dropping off rubbish, heading to a cafe to find WiFi and really seeing the countryside slowly. It has been magic!! Great topic @SunshineAndAloha and has given us freedom that a remote sit wouldnât have 
Bring on the bike adventure.
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@Cuttlefish what a great way to see the local villages! 
⌠as you say, just watch out for the snakes!
We recently finished a lovely 2 week sit in SW France where we had use of the hosts fancy electric bikes! What a luxury! We didnât know about the bikes till we arrived and were offered them, already charged up, for our use! They said the dog loved to run alongside whilst they biked. So thatâs exactly what we did! Along lovely quiet country roads with a gorgeous river stop for the doggie. We really enjoyed our daily bike/dog runs instead of a usual dog walk- made a nice change and the dog always got nicely powered out!
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Sounds wonderful 
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I see your point, and coming originally from a country that has bike lanes it makes sense.
I miss bike lanes!
Personally I only have my own bike, one that I am quite fond of⌠I guess if asked I might consider let a sitter utilise it.
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We are keen cyclists so ask if there is somewhere to store our bikes. This often prompts hosts to offer use of their bikes which has included electric bikes on 2 occasions.
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We love biking. On 1 sit last year I tried an e-bike for the first time. We are avid riders and decided weâll stick with doing biking the old fashioned way!
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I always offer my bike (home owner), but since I donât live in a very bikeable city, no sitter has taken me up on the offer yet.
Very cool. I havenât been offered one, but never asked either! For Amsterdam sits, it should be a givenâŚwink wink! I would want to be sure to know how to secure/lock it if planning a pit stop.
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@Cat_Aficionado that is a very good point about the ability to lock the bikes you borrow.
When we borrowed bikes in Derbyshire UK, the family had left out helmets for us, but not a lock. We didnât do an in person handover, but even if we had, I donât think it would have occurred to us at the time to ask about a bike lock. It wasnât until we were on our bike ride and arrived at a historic mill that we realised that we wouldnât be able to visit the indoor areas of the mill as we couldnât secure the bikes! Luckily there was lots to see in the outside areas and we could wheel the bikes around. We were also able to park the bikes close to the outdoor seating at a couple of canalside cafes.
Next time weâll ask about a bike lock or bring our own. Lesson learned!
We love having bikes on a sit and continue to have nice times exploring the bike trails, farmlands, and towns around our sit-home. We enjoy it so much that we are willing to make repairs or buy small parts, like a bike lock which can usually be used for both bikes. The costs are justified by our usual excuse,âOh, we donât own a car and donât pay for maintenance and insurance, this is a lot cheaperâ. As a side note, the most amazing place weâve been for biking is Belgium.
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